With modern technology and societal shift, it has become next to impossible to eliminate social media as a means to communicate. As a leader and nursing professional, I use the internet daily to communicate with my colleagues. I regulate my online presence with simple principles such as : maintaining confidentiality and reinforcing professional communication for the sake of professional censorship .
Nursing is a regulated profession. What we do and how we choose to act has a huge impact on the public’s view towards health care professionals. As a nurse of British Columbia who has the honor of being apart of Vancouver Coastal health (VCH), I not only represent members of the British Columbia College of Nursing Professionals (BCCNP) but also members of VCH. With respect to protocols and policies...
According to BCCNP (2019), all nurses have a duty to maintain a professional social media presence. The following interactions are prohibited:
In appropriate connection with clients
Use of foul language
Discrimination against another race
The sharing of client or colleague information
Any act of bullying or intimidation
Sexually inappropriate messages
Any act that may breach the standards of practice
When we speak of VCH policies, confidentiality is the utmost important practice. Any health care professional must not share clients or colleague’s information; This includes and is not limits to email communication or sms messages, we cannot address the patients full name in the case that some systems maybe hacked.
As a nursing professional and a leader,my lack of online presence is due to various reasons, the most prominent reason being my responsibilities in terms of my career. I am a very cautious and private individual. I do not risk the possibility of accidental exposure of work related messages nor any details from my personal life. I understand communication within the social media world is quite important as it is apart of our present day culture, but I continue to want to limit sharing such details unless its absolutely necessary.
The only social media that I'm connected too is Facebook and WeChat, yet I am not an active participant. I can count the amount of times that I post per year for both social media platforms on one hand. When I enter my name in the google search, I find nothing about myself (the astonishing thing I did find was the similarity between my name, and that of a popular Hong Kong movie star!).
If I do post, I ensure its nothing work related, while the posts I resolve to share are usually of me in a very content state. The last ten Facebook post that I had were all joyful events. I like to share my happiness with others and hope this happiness can be influential for my friends and family. Furthermore, the posts that I share on social media are neutral, the way I illustrate my thoughts in WeChat are more conservative due to a cultural contrast from my extended family. My WeChat account is mostly viewed by my distant relatives; they have different opinions compared to Canadians. For example, when one says thank you to someone that is praising you, Canadian view that as respect by thanking that person; Chinese culture may think that as narcissism.
In conclusion, my social media presence is far too less. Hopefully in the near future I can accumulate more professional social presence through research or professional involvement. As for personal life, I would like to continue to remain in a confidential state.
References:
British Columbia College of Nursing Professionals. (2019). What Do You Need to Consider? Social Media. Retrieved from: https://www.bccnp.ca/Standards/RN_NP/resourcescasestudies/ethics/socialmedia/Pages/Default.aspx
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